I find it interesting to hear all the media pundits claiming that the “American People” are against a government shut-down and blame Republicans for using ObamaCare as a negotiation tool.

If the States that are united were founded on a principle of a consolidated nation, where a “National” government ruled over them, then it is possible the pundits may have it correct. However, that is not how the founding generation envisioned our union of States. We are made up of individual and sovereign entities that united to form a more perfect union. These States then delegated certain limited authority to the Federal government. It was very clear to nearly everyone involved that the States would retain the majority of their sovereign powers. This is one of the reasons that the Tenth Amendment was inserted into the Bill of Rights. What does it say?:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Who were those people? The people of the individual States, not the people of a giant conglomerate. If any self-respecting news journalist or historian for that matter, would take the time to read the debates of the several States during their ratifying process they would then understand the principle.

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Recently a Federal Judge, Shira Scheindlin, declared the New York City Police departments “Stop and Frisk” procedure Un-Constitutional and called for a federal monitor to watch over the police department to ensure Police Officers are in compliance with the constitution.

This happened without a peep of protest from any New York State elected official, Judge or lawyer.

You would think that Governor Cuomo would be at the fore of the angry protest against Federal intrusion into what is clearly a State Police power. Where does Justice Scheindlin believe her authority to rule on this matter come from? Not the United States Constitution.

The “Stop and Frisk” procedure is clearly un-Constitutional, however, it is the New York State Constitution that matters.

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This coming Thursday, many of us will have a day off from work and be home to have a barbecue, watch the fireworks and proudly fly our American flag.

This uniquely American holiday is a time to reflect on the greatness of our Nation and its people.

However, it is not really a time to celebrate as “Americans”. It is a time to celebrate as sovereign people of the States. The Fourth of July was the day (it was actually a few days earlier) the people of the thirteen colonies through their representatives in the Congress, declared to the world that they were now independent and free States. Free from the King and Parliament and a centralized government. However, it would take a long and bloody war to actually permit these newly independent Sates to remain free.

The Declaration of Independence was signed by men who knew they were risking their “Lives, fortunes and sacred honor”. According to the King, they were all traitors who warranted death.

When the war finally came to a successful end the King and Parliament had no choice but to declare that the thirteen States were now free. The first Article of the Treaty of Paris that ended the war stated:

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I have had many debates over this issue and it does not get any easier. Recently the New York State legislature passed a horrendous anti-freedom bill entitled the NYSAFE act. This legislation, that was passed in the middle of the night without proper debate, instantaneously made honest, law-abiding citizens criminals. It banned the possession of a myriad of innocuous semi-automatic rifles and magazines (not clips) that can hold more than seven rounds of ammunition along with many other ridiculous “feel good” items. It may well be that Commissar Cuomo and his Republican lackeys overstepped their bounds. You see, in New Yorks Constitution there contains a bill of “Civil Rights” much like the United States Constitutions “Bill of Rights”. New York Civil Rights – Article 2 – § 4 is New York’s Right to Keep and Bear Arms security. It states:

Right to keep and bear arms. A well regulated militia being
necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to
keep and bear arms cannot be infringed.

This is the exactly the same as the Federal Constitutions Second Amendment except the words “cannot be infringed” replaces “shall not be infringed”. Law suits are already in place to overturn this horrible piece of legislation.

If New York courts uphold this freedom denying legislation, which I believe is inevitable, then the People of New York have a couple of choices. Throw out the tyrannical legislators and King, oh I mean Governor, that helped enact it, or submissively acquiesce to it and grovel at the feet of their new Masters.

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I find it hard to believe , but the National Tea Party is nothing but a shill for their Republican masters.

On election night of the New Hampshire primary, a leader of the Tea Party (I won’t mention her name) appeared on Fox News and claimed Mit Romney was a conservative the Tea Party could rally around. Huh? The same Mit Romney who gave his fellow liberal denizens in Massachusetts “Romney Care” the foreshadow of “Obama Care”? The same Mit Romney who fails to take a firearms survey offered by the Gun Owners of America and who supports the banning of semi-automatic weapons and high capacity magazines. Mit Romney who can find not one single government agency he would abolish? Not the IRS, Homeland (Secret State Police) Security, Education, Agriculture, Medicaid (Socialized Medicine), etc… Not one? This is a man the Tea Party can rally around?

And what about Newt Gingrich. He leads in many polls among “Tea Party” activist.

Last May, he criticized as “right-wing social engineering’’ the proposal of Representative Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, to convert Medicare into a voucher program so seniors could privately purchase insurance. Following a firestorm of protest from conservatives, Gingrich quickly backed off, apologized to Ryan, and said his “words were inaccurate and unfortunate.’’

Newt on firearms? (From Gun Owners of America)

After initially having a Pro-Gun record, his GOA rating quickly dropped to well below the “C-level.” In 1996, the Republican-led Congress passed the “gun free school zones act,” creating criminal safe zones like Virginia Tech, where the only person armed was a murderous criminal. Speaker Newt Gingrich voted for the bill containing this ban.

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Rick Montes is State Chapter Coordinator for the New York Tenth Amendment Center.He holds a B.A. in Legal Studies, graduating Magna Cum Laude from the State University of New York, College at Purchase and holds his M.A. in History at Western Connecticut State University, Danbury Connecticut. Rick is also the author of "the United States as a Confederation and the Relevance of the Tenth Amendment".